He also refused to provide clarity on whether a dubious intelligence report was used to fire former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

According to John Steenhuisen, DA Chief Whip, "We believe this is setting a terrible precedent for parliamentary accountability, essentially the president telling parliament he doesn't care and showing complete contempt for Parliament, obviously if this precedent is allowed to stand it’s going to percolate down to other ministers who also arrive in the house and simply refuse to answer the questions that have been sent to them. This makes a complete mockery of the oversight and accountability model."